Wrestling

Camels fall to Drexel, edged by Northern Colorado

Dec 14, 2011

BUIES CREEK - Campbell dropped two dual matches on Wednesday evening in the Fighting Camel Duals inside Pope Convocation Center. The Camels fall to 5-6 overall in dual matches on the season heading into the Christmas break. Drexel improved to 3-1, while Northern Colorado moves to 1-1 on the season.

Mark Hartenstine (Easton, Penn.) and James Cook (Madera, Calif.) were the top performers of the evening for the Fighting Camels. Hartenstine finished with a pin against Drexel's Shane Fenningham and a 2-0 decision victory over UNC's Justin Gonzalez. Cook had a decision win over Alex Rinaldi of Drexel and a major decision win over Patrick Gomez of UNC.

Campbell fell behind the Dragons of Drexel 20-0 before winning three of the final four individual matches. Sparked by Hartenstine's pin at 149 pounds, Nick Rex (Lakeland, Fla.) finished with a 13-4 major decision at 165 pounds before Cook concluded the scoring with his decision win at 174 to make the final margin 23-13.

Against the Bears of UNC, Campbell took a 6-4 lead after John Weakley's 0:29 pin over Mark Morrill at 197 pounds. Joe Nolan's 4-1 decision win at 285 pounds made it 9-4 in favor of CU. Northern Colorado took the next three matches, including a pin at 133 pounds to take a lead at 16-9 that the Bears would not relinquish.

Hartenstine and Ryan Krecker (Nazareth, Penn.) took back-to-back decision wins to cut the UNC lead to one at 16-15. Gabriel Burak, ranked 12th in his weight class nationally, took a major decision win at 165 pounds to give the Bears a 20-15 lead into into the final bout of the evening. Cook put forth a valiant effort, needing a tech fall or pin to give the Camels a chance at victory, but finished with a 19-10 major decision win to bring the team score final to 20-19.

Campbell will return to the mat Jan. 1-2 at the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Camels return to Buies Creek on Jan. 9 to face Southern Conference foe Appalachian State and Cleveland State.